U.S. Stocks Extend Losses in Europe and Japan

Nichole Harper
05 Jun, 2013
New York City

Market indexes on Wall Street accelerated the decline after a sharp fall in Tokyo and Europe. Latvia approved to join the euro zone and European auto sales extended shrinkage in the sixth year. U.S. private sector added fewer than expected net 135,000 jobs.

[R]1:40 PM New York – Market indexes on Wall Street accelerated the decline after a sharp fall in Tokyo and Europe. Latvia approved to join the euro zone and European auto sales extended shrinkage in the sixth year. U.S. private sector added fewer than expected net 135,000 jobs.[/R]

Market indexes on Wall Street accelerated the decline in afternoon after European markets dropped as much as 2% and Asian markets fell after the Nikkei plunged more than 3% for the fifth time in two weeks.

Stocks on Wall Street were under pressure and the S&P 500 index declined 1.03% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1%.

Investors shifted attention to the monthly job report scheduled to release on Friday after a private employment survey showed an increase of 135,000, lower than expectations of 168,000.

The survey was published by Automatic Data Processing and Moody’s Analytics.

European Markets

European markets closed lower following a sharp decline in Asian markets led by a plunge in Japan.

Market indexes in Frankfurt declined 1.2%, in Paris dropped 1.9% and in London plunged 2%.

Latvia approved to join the euro zone from January 1 and European Parliament and European Union are expected to approve the 18th member to the currency union as early as September.

Euro zone retail sales in April fell more than expected.

European auto industry continued to shrink for the sixth year in a row and auto sales in May declined in Germany and France.

Auto sales in Germany in May declined 9.9% according to the data released by German Federal Motor Vehicle Office.

For the five months to May, total vehicle sales declined 8.8% to 1.22 million units. Auto sales in France also tumbled 11% in May to 176,852 units.

Asian Markets

Stocks across Asia declined after Nikkei index in Tokyo plunged more than 3% for the fifth time in two weeks.

Japanese stocks closed lower but indexes surged as much as 1.2% after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe began his speech in the afternoon.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 518.89 or 3.8% to 13,014.87 and Topix index dropped 35.44 or 3.2% to 1,090.03. The yen strengthened to as high as 100.48 but closed at 99.59 against one dollar in today’s trading.

Investors took a cautious view as prime minister outlined his plan for growth and revive the economy and offered the “third arrow” of his three-arrow plan.

The steady erosion in market indexes was accelerated today after Prime Minister Abe failed to offer specific policy steps at a widely anticipated speech.

Abe focused on the hyper easing of monetary policy and escalating government spending in the first two arrows and in the third arrow proposed to liberalize the economy and attract investment in the energy, infrastructure and health sectors.

In today’s speech, Prime Minister Abe focused on structural reforms but also laid out a timetable of implementation in eight months and delayed most of the difficult decisions after the upper house election next month.

Market indexes in Hong Kong fell 1% and in Seoul declined 1.5% but in Mumbai gained 0.1% after Reserve Bank of India curtailed gold import, the largest contributor to the trade and current account deficit.

Stocks in Review

Bob Evans Farms, Inc. ((BOBE)) gained 1% or 50 cent to $46.50 after the restaurant operator said total revenues in the fourth quarter ending on April 26 tumbled 14% to $353.9 million. Net earnings in the quarter jumped 23% to $27 million or 97 cents a diluted share compared to $22 million or 76 cents.

Dell, Inc. ((DELL)) slid 1 cent to $13.41 after the PC maker noted in a regulatory filing that the special committee said proposal for a $12-per-share special dividend has gap of nearly $3.9 billion, offered by activist investor Carl Icahn and which is “unrealistic.”

Dollar General Corporation ((DG)) soared 5% or $2.46 to $51.10 after the deep discount retailer reported net sales in the first quarter ending on May 3rd advanced 8.5% to $4.23 billion. Comparable store sales increased to 2.6%.

Net income in the quarter jumped 16% to $220 million or 67 cents a diluted share compared to $213 million or 63 cents.

For the year, the company expects total sales to increase between 10% and 11% and same-store sales to increase between 4% and 5% and diluted earnings per share in the range of $3.15 to $3.22.